• More than a dozen Teslas were destroyed following a fire in Rome early Monday, firefighters told BI.
• No injuries were reported and other incidents have occurred in the Italian capital in recent weeks.
• The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

A fire broke out at a Tesla dealership in Rome early on Monday, destroying 17 cars and damaging the building, firefighters told Business Insider.

Emergency services were called to the site in Torre Angela at about 4:30 a.m. local time, they said.

No injuries have been reported and investigators haven't specified the cause of the fire, adding investigators were looking into multiple causes, including possible malice.

Local reports say Teslas have been vandalized in other parts of Rome in recent weeks, with some defaced with black spray paint.

Tesla Showroom Rome didn't immediately reply to a request for comments.

The incident comes as CEO Elon Musk's aggressive cost-cutting efforts at DOGE have sparked a backlash against his EV maker.

Over the past three months, Tesla facilities have faced arson attacks, vandalism, and boycott calls in the US and Europe. Tesla stock fell another 5% on Monday, extending the decline this year to 34%. JPMorgan analysts recently slashed their price target to just $135.

Business Insider's Lakshmi Varanasi reported she saw nearly 400 protesters armed with flags and signs outside a Tesla showroom in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Saturday. They were calling for Musk to leave the White House.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has said he's shocked by the violence, calling it "insane and deeply wrong" in an X post earlier this month: "Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks."

In another post, Musk wrote: "Has there ever been such a level of coordinated violence against a peaceful company? I understand not wanting to buy a product, but this is extreme arson and destruction!"

Steven Callander, a professor of political economy at Stanford Graduate School of Business, previously told BI the backlash for his political actions was "inevitable," saying the "real cost to Tesla will be the lost sales and the brand damage" — not the vandalism.

New Tesla registrations in the US tumbled 11% in January — even as Ford's EV sales soared 54% — and the picture was worse in Europe as sales plunged more than 40% in February, industry reports show. Tesla shares are down 45% from their December high.

Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, made a similar observation in a note last week, saying: "Musk leading DOGE has essentially taken on a life of its own, as in the process Tesla has unfortunately become a political symbol globally."

• A cruise ship is being transformed into luxury residences at sea.
• The Navigator, originally built in 1999, will undergo a multimillion-dollar renovation.
• Condos on the ship will cost upward of $750,000, and residents will have access to butlers.

A two-decades-old cruise ship is undergoing a multimillion-dollar renovation to become a floating residential community for the ultrawealthy.

Regent Seven Sea Cruises' Navigator is set to become the first ship of the Crescent Seas fleet. Crescent Seas announced in an Instagram post that the ship is scheduled to set sail on December 31, 2026, following a $70 million renovation.

Originally constructed in 1999, the Navigator underwent a major refurbishment in 2016. In its current form, it has eight decks, 248 suites, a pool, and a putting green.

After the refurbishment, it will feature 210 private residences, offering buyers the chance to purchase homes and live on board as it travels the globe.

Russell Galbut, the cofounder of real estate development firm Crescent Heights, which launched Crescent Seas, told Bloomberg that the price of homes on the ship will range from $750,000 to $8 million.

He said owners will pay maintenance fees starting at $210,000 a year, which will cover butler service, meals, housekeeping, and access to Starlink internet.

Sales of the luxury residences are set to begin on April 9 this year.

A spokesperson for Regent confirmed in an email to Business Insider that the Seven Seas Navigator will leave its fleet on October 14, 2026, as part of the terms of a new long-term agreement with Crescent Seas.

The ship's final voyage under Regent is scheduled to depart on October 2 next year, from Turkey to Egypt.

They added that guests whose trips are canceled due to the agreement will receive a full refund.

Galbut told Bloomberg that Crescent Seas is negotiating with three other ships and is in talks to commission a new vessel as part of long-term plans to develop more options for residential living at sea.

The company's website said the design firms MAWD, Lissoni & Partners, and Journey will lead the Navigator's redesign.

Luxury residential cruise ships already exist, including the Villa Vie Residences, where villas on board start at $129,999, and The World, where condos cost between $2 million and $15 million each.

The World is equipped with a large spa, a tennis court, and personalized concierge services.

Peter Antonucci, who lived on The World for six years, told BI last year that it is like the "Four Seasons on Steroids."

• An Australian town is offering up to $428,000 a year and rent-free accommodation to be its doctor.
• Julia Creek, Queensland, is 19 hours drive away from the nearest major city.
• Australia is facing a doctor shortage, prompting rural areas to offer competitive packages.

A remote town in the Australian outback is looking for a doctor. To sweeten the deal, the town is offering a generous salary, rent-free accommodation, and a car allowance.

The catch? You'd be the only doctor in an isolated town that is a 19-hour drive from the nearest major city — Brisbane.

The North West Hospital and Health Service is advertising for a senior medical officer in Julia Creek, Queensland, an outback town of about 550 people.

The job listing shows that the role would offer an annual salary of up to $680,277 in Australian currency, or about $428,000. That's almost seven times the average Australian salary.

The position also includes rent-free accommodation, a motor vehicle allowance, and 3.6 weeks of annual professional development leave.

"Your primary role will be as the sole doctor providing clinical care for the community," the listing said. This would include seeing patients in primary care clinics, on the ward, and in retirement homes.

It listed one of the perks as "no traffic jams or long commute here."

While there may be no long commutes, the town is far from urban life and its conveniences. It's so isolated that most high-school students there need to go to boarding schools.

The nearest small cities are Mount Isa, about a three-hour drive away, and Townsville City, which takes more than eight hours to drive to.

Brisbane, the third-most populous city in Australia, is over 1,000 miles away, or a 19-hour drive.

Back in 2022, Julia Creek put out a hiring call to fill the role. The listing went viral and attracted applicants from all over the world, with a doctor from Brisbane eventually chosen to fill the role.

He's now leaving.

Australia is facing a growing shortage of general practitioners, with the government estimating a shortfall of thousands by 2048.

The situation is particularly bad in rural and remote areas, the country's Department of Health and Aged Care said in an August 2024 report.

As a result, some isolated towns are offering highly competitive packages to entice doctors to leave major cities.

In 2023, the Shire of Quairading, about two hours east of Perth, which is considered one of the world's most isolated major cities, offered a salary equivalent to $189,000 along with a four-bedroom home.

The General Practice Registrars Australia said that rural areas typically offer much higher salaries, along with incentives like housing and relocation payments, to address difficulties in attracting medical professionals.

• A norovirus outbreak on the Queen Mary 2, a luxury cruise ship, affected 183 passengers and 14 crew.
• About 7% of passengers on board reported symptoms during the voyage, per the CDC.
• Norovirus is highly contagious, with outbreaks especially common in hospitals and schools.

A norovirus outbreak on a luxury Cunard cruise ship left almost 200 people sick, causing symptoms like diarrhea and vomiting.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Vessel Sanitation Program released details on Monday about the norovirus outbreak on the Queen Mary 2.

It said about 183 of the 2,538 passengers on board — about 7% — fell ill during the voyage. It also said that 14 of the 1,232 crew members also reported being sick during the journey.

The ship departed England on March 8, according to CruiseMapper, sailing first to New York before continuing to the eastern Caribbean, with stops in Barbados, St Lucia, and Grenada.

In an email statement to Business Insider, a Cunard spokesperson said a "small number of guests" reported symptoms of gastrointestinal illness on the Queen Mary 2.

"We are continuing to closely monitor the guests and, as a precaution, completed a comprehensive deep clean of the ship and immediately activated our enhanced health and safety protocols, which are proving to be effective," they added.

The Queen Mary 2, Cunard's flagship vessel, was the largest passenger ship ever built at the time of its construction. It has 15 restaurants and bars, five swimming pools, a casino, and the first-ever planetarium at sea.

The ship frequently makes transatlantic crossings, with ticket prices starting at around $1,400 per person, and luxury duplex suites upwards of $35,000.

Although norovirus is sometimes referred to as the "cruise ship virus," outbreaks on cruise ships only account for about 1% of all reported cases in the US, according to the CDC.

More common outbreak locations included healthcare facilities, restaurants, and schools.

It's an extremely contagious virus, and is the leading cause of vomiting and diarrhea in the US. According to the CDC, there are about 2,500 reported norovirus outbreaks in the US each year.

Norovirus can be spread through direct contact, eating food or drinking liquid contaminated with the virus, or touching contaminated surfaces.

The CDC said that Cunard responded to the outbreak by increasing cleaning and disinfection procedures, isolating sick passengers and crew, collecting stool specimens for testing, and consulting with the Vessel Sanitation Program.

A few days after Cunard reported the outbreak, a smaller norovirus outbreak was reported on a different cruise ship.

According to the CDC, 7 of the 461 passengers and 22 of the 405 crew members reported being ill during a voyage on the Seabourn Encore, which belongs to Seabourn Cruise Line.

Last week, BI reported on how passengers aboard Cunard's Queen Anne were advised to take precautions as the vessel navigated a piracy-prone area in Southeast Asia during its maiden world voyage.

Passengers were told that promenade decks would be closed and only essential open-deck lights would remain on, to minimize the ship's visibility, and that they should keep their curtains drawn.

The Queen Anne is Cunard's fourth luxury cruise ship and can accommodate 2,996 guests, in addition to 1,225 crew.

• The European Union advised citizens to stockpile 72 hours of supplies for potential crises.
• It's part of a wider strategy to enhance Europe's response to emerging threats.
• Experts advise stockpiling supplies to last much longer than 72 hours.

The European Union issued a stark new advisory on Wednesday, advising people to stockpile 72 hours' worth of supplies in case of "threats and crises."

It's part of a wide-ranging strategy designed to "enhance Europe's capability to prevent and respond to emerging threats," the statement said.

While the EU did not specifically mention the war in Ukraine, it comes amid growing concerns over Russian aggression.

"We face an increasing number of external security challenges and a growing number of hybrid attacks in our common European space," said Kaja Kallas, the EU's representative for foreign affairs and security.

The EU's strategy involves disaster preparation at the level of international and military cooperation, and for essential services such as hospitals, schools, and telecommunications.

Its most eye-catching advice — at least for the EU's 450 million people — is for everyone to have an emergency stockpile of supplies.

Stockpile what?

Unlike well-prepared American families in the path of hurricanes, Europeans have not typically made it a priority to draw up plans for emergencies, said Lucy Easthope, a leading advisor in emergency planning and disaster recovery.

Seventy-two hours of supplies has long been the standard advice issued by authorities in many countries, she told Business Insider. "The problem with the messaging today is it's not really fit for anything other than probably a short weather or power-based outage."

The EU's preparedness and crisis management commissioner, Hadja Lahbib, said it's up to each member state to define what to stockpile "according to their geographical and geostrategic positions."

Ilan Kelman, a professor of disaster and health at University College London, outlined some basic advice to BI — like keeping plenty of bottled water on hand.

"That's for drinking, it's also for hand washing, for toilets and other hygiene needs," he said.

About a gallon of water per person a day is needed just for drinking, according to Swrajit Sarkar, a specialist in emergency nutrition at City St George's, University of London.

He said that ideally, all five main food groups should be covered across non-perishable items including nuts, lentils, dried fruits, and canned beans.

For dairy alternatives, Sarkar recommended powdered or ultra-heat-treated milk — and for cheese lovers, he said that waxed cheeses, like Babybel or Gouda, have a very long shelf life.

Granola or protein bars keep well, make good snacks and deliver energy, too, Sarkar said. He also suggests dark chocolate, as studies prove it's a mood booster.

Kelman said basic grain staples such as rice or pasta store well, but aren't easy to cook if there's no electricity.

Meats or fish should be smoked or otherwise preserved — and he advised keeping plenty of starches such as bread and crackers.

Non-food items

Kelman said people should try to ensure they have a radio — either battery-powered or wind-up.

Outgoing communication is "a lot more challenging" unless people want to invest in walkie-talkies or shortwave outgoing radios, he said.

Hygiene items such as sanitary pads, soap, and nappies, as well as first aid kits and essential medicine, are also a must, Kelman added.

And light — and power — are important. "I have a power bank for my phone," Easthope said. "I have a solar-powered light, solar-powered torches, chargeable torches."

For safety reasons, she recommended avoiding candles or indoor portable cookers if at all possible.

Easthope also recommended having essential documents, like passports and insurance papers, on hand.

What's often forgotten is morale. "It's very, very important to keep the mind busy," she said. Coloring books, knitting, and board games — any entertainment that doesn't use electricity — are a godsend for people in a heightened state of anxiety.

72 hours as the bare minimum

Kelman advised stocking up for at least two weeks: "If we do end up in a regional or even full-scale military conflict, then there is not a chance that 72 hours of supplies is going to last anyone."

Anything that takes out the power grid — such as a missile strike, or a solar flare — could take weeks to fix, he added.

Yet even asking people to have three days of extra food in reserve may be beyond the continent's least well-off, Kelman said.

He added: "The tragedy is that many people cannot afford to put enough food on the table every day, so making demands that they should have 72 hours — or two weeks — of supplies is untenable in today's economic environment."

• Lilly Mcginley was on Cunard's Queen Anne when the captain issued a pirate alert earlier this month.
• The retiree and frequent cruisegoer says she wasn't frightened. She's had worse experiences at sea.
• Mcginley, 56, told Business Insider that unexpected events on cruises add to the sense of adventure.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lilly Mcginley, a 56-year-old retiree from the UK, about being aboard a cruise ship where passengers were told to turn off lights to help avoid pirates. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

When we booked a cruise aboard Cunard's Queen Anne we had no idea we'd even be passing through waters at risk of piracy.

My husband and I have been on more than 70 cruises. We had never experienced a pirate alert before, and we certainly weren't expecting one.

I first realized something unusual was happening when the alert sounded at an unusual time as we sailed south of the Philippines toward Manila. The announcements are normally made around midday, but this came at around 4 p.m.

The captain said the area we would be sailing through was known for piracy threats, and the ship would be operating at a heightened level of security alertness.

From 5 p.m. onwards, the crew was setting up water canons and loudspeakers at the back of the ship. There was quite a lot of security outside.

From around 9 p.m., we weren't allowed to go out on the promenade deck, and we had to shut our curtains and turn our lights off.

It was clear that people were a bit anxious. Some of my friends chose not to tell their kids what was happening because they didn't want them to worry, and I'm sure quite a few people had a sleepless night.

After the nighttime worry, people started to feel more at ease the following day.

In fact, it became a fun pastime to get binoculars out and look for pirates.

Many of us were sitting at the front of the ship, using binoculars, commenting every time a little boat got close to the ship.

Some people were quite disappointed we didn't see any pirates!

The crew also held a sports day, which helped to take people's minds off things.

Throughout the day, people started to see the fun and excitement in this experience. We could all leave the cruise with a story to tell.

To be honest, I was excited from the start. My first thought was: "This is going to be interesting."

On this occasion, I wasn't nervous at all.

I knew the risk of actual danger wasn't high and we've been on other ships when it has been a lot worse.

In December 2023, we were cruising through the Suez Canal and the southern Red Sea, when the Houthis started launching drones.

The captain made an announcement and screens showed the area we would be passing through, along with pictures of the container ships that had been attacked recently.

Like on the Queen Anne, we had to stay indoors and avoid the open decks.

It was a bit worrying through the night, but again, people's moods lightened the following day. I thought it was interesting and another thing to talk about around the dinner table.

We've also been on a cruise ship during a hurricane. During that cruise, everything started flying around, with sunbeds even going overboard.

But this stuff that happens when you're on a ship is what I enjoy most.

Don't get me wrong — if the pirates had got on the ship or a drone strike had happened, I would have been the first one freaking out. That would have been a completely different story.

But I like the sense of adventure.

People may think cruising is boring, but clearly, it's not.

• A Canadian ski resort is cutting lift ticket prices by 84% on April 2.
• The discount coincides with the day more of Trump's tariffs are set to go into effect.
• The resort says the discount has nothing to do with the impending levies.

A Canadian ski resort is cutting lift ticket prices by 84% on April 2, but it insists the timing has nothing to do with President Donald Trump's impending tariffs.

Pre-purchase lift tickets at the Mount Norquay Ski Resort in Banff are normally on sale for C$119 for adults (roughly $83).

But on April 2, which the resort has dubbed "Canadian Proud Ski Day," prices are set to be slashed to C$18.67 (around $13.10) to celebrate Mount Norquay's "heritage as a proudly Canadian-owned and operated ski hill."

While the evidently patriotic event will coincide with Trump's "Liberation Day" — when the US's reciprocal levies on trading partners are set to take effect — a spokesperson for the Mount Norquay Ski Resort denied that the discount was a reaction to this.

In an email to Business Insider, the spokesperson said: "Considering the circumstances, we're hosting this event to celebrate Canadian-owned business and Canadian tourism."

The spokesperson did not elaborate on what those circumstances were but added that the day would be about "embracing what makes us proudly Canadian."

The ski resort said that the $18.67 price was chosen to honor the year of the Canadian Confederation.

Since Trump took office, the US and Canada have been locked in an escalating trade war.

Trump first threatened reciprocal tariffs against Canada in February but delayed those by a month. After the levies went into effect in early March, a wider exemption was implemented days later.

As relations between Ottawa and Washington have grown increasingly tense, Canadians have shown their feelings by pulling back on travel to the US and supporting the "Buy Canadian" movement, among other things.

Trump told reporters on Friday that he had changed the date for his "Liberation Day" from April 1 to April 2 as he "didn't want it to be April Fools' Day because then nobody would believe what I said."

Trump said on Monday that he may be inclined to provide exemptions to certain countries when the levies begin next week.

"I may give a lot of countries breaks. It's reciprocal, but we might be even nicer than that. You know, we've been very nice to a lot of countries for a long time," he said.

• A Chinese-language Bible donated to a UK charity thrift store sold for $72,902 at auction.
• The Bible, dated between 1815 and 1822, was initially valued at $777-$1,036.
• Oxfam workers said they were shocked at how much the rare book sold for.

When a team of volunteers at a charity thrift store specializing in secondhand books discovered a Chinese-language Bible among a pile of donations, they suspected it might be worth some money.

However, they were in disbelief when it eventually sold at auction for £56,280, the equivalent of $72,902. The money will go to the charity.

Nick Reeves, the manager of the Oxfam charity bookstore in Chelmsford, England, said in a press statement that two of their volunteers found the book while rummaging through a pile of donations and "suspected it could be worth something."

It was taken to an auction house in London, where specialists initially valued it at between $777 and $1,036.

But when the bidding started, the price kept climbing, attracting a final price far exceeding the initial valuation — almost $72,000 above the upper estimate.

"When it finally ended, I was in complete shock," Reeves said. "We were absolutely speechless."

It turned out that the book was the first known complete printed Bible translated into Chinese, the auction house, Bonhams, said in its listing.

Ian Falkingham, Oxfam's Donated Goods Strategy Lead, told Business Insider that "we could never have expected it."

Falkingham told BI that every donation is meaningful to Oxfam, but it is "extra special" when something of this value comes along.

The Bible, the first-known translation into Chinese, was jointly translated by John Lassar, a Macao-born Armenian scholar of Chinese, and Joshua Marshman, a Baptist missionary in India who studied the language under him.

The book is dated from between 1815 and 1822.

"The Lassar and Marshman Chinese translation of the Bible was an exceedingly rare item, which we could not trace at auction previously," said Lorenza Gay, an associate specialist in books and manuscripts at Bonhams.

The Bible was sold last Thursday after two weeks of intense bidding, and was among two dozen books auctioned at Bonhams that week that had been donated to various Oxfam stores.

In total, the books raised over $135,000 for the charity, and included the sale of a first edition of Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" for $21,542 and a signed copy of Roald Dahl's "Matilda" from 1989, which sold for the equivalent of $2,983.

Falkingham said of Oxfam: "We are the largest chain of secondhand bookshops in Europe, and you really never know what books might be donated, who they might be written by, or how much they will be worth."

• Heathrow Airport said Friday afternoon it was resuming flights after being closed most of the day.
• A fire caused a power outage, closing Europe's busiest airport and causing travel chaos.
• The airport said it hoped to resume full operation on Saturday.

London's Heathrow Airport said it would resume some flights Friday night after closing earlier in the day due to a power outage.

The nearly full-day closure, which came after a fire in a nearby electrical substation, caused thousands of flight delays and cancellations at the airport, which is Europe's busiest.

An airport spokesperson warned people to expect "significant disruption over the coming days."

In a post on X at 4.13 p.m. local time, Heathrow said it was now "safely able to restart flights" and would prioritize the "repatriation and relocation of aircraft."

The airport said it hoped it would return to full operation on Saturday, but asked passengers not to travel to the airport unless their airline advised them to do so.

The airport usually welcomes around 200,000 passengers and 1,300 flights a day but was cordoned off and almost completely empty most of the day. Planes were diverted, with some British Airways flights rerouting to London Gatwick, while other airlines diverted to more distant locations.

The aviation analytics firm Cirium told BI that the airport was due to have 665 departures and 669 arrivals on Friday, equating to more than 290,000 seats.

On Friday morning, barricades and signs were placed around the airport to prevent drivers from entering its perimeter.

Terminal Five is the busiest terminal, but on Friday morning, a BI reporter found that the area around it was eerily quiet. Dozens of people were waiting outside, mostly checking their phones for travel updates.

Rhythem Chauhan was one of them. She had been there since 5 a.m., awaiting news of her flight home to Delhi.

"It's heartbreaking," she told BI, saying she hadn't been back to India in five years.

Luke Metcalf told BI he was supposed to fly to Thailand this morning but his flight was diverted to another London airport, Gatwick, and would take off at 5 p.m. instead.

"It is what is, I'm a bit disappointed but there's not much you can do about it," he said.

Another stranded passenger, Andrew Palmer, was supposed to fly to San Francisco but decided to stay at a hotel near the airport after seeing the news on TV.

"I'm disappointed, very disappointed," he told BI. "The disheartening thing was that I had an internal flight to Las Vegas as well."

Heathrow was the fourth busiest airport in the world and the busiest in Europe in 2024, according to OAG, a travel data company, behind only Tokyo Haneda Airport, Dubai International Airport, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Last year, about 83.9 million people flew through Heathrow, up 6% from the previous year.

A British Airways spokesperson said the power outage led to the cancellation of all short-term flights on Friday.

When the resumption of flights was announced, the airline said eight long-haul flights would be departing Heathrow from 7 p.m. local time.

The fire occurred at an electricity substation in Hayes in West London, about 1.5 miles from the airport. The cause of the fire is not yet known.

London's Metropolitan Police said its counter-terrorism command would lead the fire investigation, given "the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure."

"This is due to the specialist resources and capabilities within that command that can assist in progressing this investigation at pace to minimise disruption and identify the cause," the force added in a statement.

The London Fire Brigade said in a post on X that 10 fire engines and about 70 firefighters were called to the scene. Images showed large flames and plumes of thick black smoke.

"Our firefighters worked tirelessly in challenging and hazardous conditions overnight to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible," Deputy Commissioner Jonathan Smith said.

London has several other international airports including Gatwick, the city's second-busiest airport, and Stansted, known for budget flights and flights to Europe.

• The US ranked 24th in the 2025 World Happiness Report, its lowest place since the list began.
• The report said its decline is due to factors like eating alone and rising 'deaths of despair.'
• Finland topped the list for the 8th year running, with a strong showing for other European nations.

The US fell to its lowest ranking in the 13-year history of the World Happiness Report this week.

Released Thursday to coincide with the International Day of Happiness, The World Happiness Report 2025 placed the US 24th among countries — one spot down from last year and significantly lower than its 15th place finish in 2023.

The US sat just below the UK, and above the likes of Belize, Poland, and Taiwan.

The majority of the top 10 were European countries, with Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, and Luxembourg claiming seven of the spots.

Finland took the top spot for the eighth year running, while Afghanistan remained the least happy country in the world.

Since the report's inception in 2012, the US has never broken into the top 10, with its highest ranking — 11th — taking place in that first year.

The ranking is based on the Cantril Ladder, a life evaluation metric used in the Gallup World Poll, which surveys more than 100,000 people in 140 countries and territories.

Participants are asked to rate their lives on a scale of zero to 10, with zero representing the worst possible life imaginable and 10 the best.

Finland scored an average of 7.7, the US 6.7, and Afghanistan 1.4.

The only non-European countries in the top 10 were Israel, Costa Rica, and Mexico.

The 2025 World Happiness Report focused on the impact of caring and sharing on people's overall happiness. It said one reason for declining well-being in the US is a rising number of people eating alone.

Citing data from the American Time Use Survey, it found that in 2023, about a quarter of Americans ate all their meals alone the day before.

Another issue raised in the report is the US's increasing rate of "deaths of despair" — preventable deaths from suicide, alcohol abuse, and drug overdose.

Last year, the World Happiness Report examined happiness across different age groups.

Lithuania was ranked the happiest country for people under 30, but also had one of the highest suicide rates in the world.

• Cunard's Queen Anne cruise ship heightened its security while navigating piracy-prone waters.
• Passengers were told to avoid the deck overnight, draw their curtains, and turn off their lights.
• Cunard told BI it's standard procedure when sailing in certain waters.

Passengers aboard Cunard's Queen Anne cruise ship were advised to take precautions last week as the 114,000-ton vessel navigated a piracy-prone area in Southeast Asia during its maiden world voyage.

The 111-night trip, which began in Germany in January, saw the ship traveling between Darwin, Australia, and Manila in the Philippines last week, passing through the Sulu-Celebes Seas.

Prior to navigating the waters, which the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism once described as a "hotbed for crime, piracy, and terrorism," the captain issued an onboard safety warning.

In a video of a loudspeaker announcement to passengers, which Cunard did not dispute took place, the captain informed passengers that the ship would be operating at a "heightened level of security alertness" while crossing an area known for piracy threats.

As part of these security measures, passengers were told over the loudspeaker that the external promenade decks would be closed overnight, and only essential open-deck lights would remain on to minimize the ship's visibility.

Passengers were also asked to turn off their stateroom lights when not needed and to keep their curtains drawn.

The Queen Anne is Cunard's fourth luxury cruise ship. It can accommodate 2,996 guests, as well as 1,225 crew, and has thousands of pieces of art on board, as well as facilities for activities like archery and pickleball.

The waters between Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines were once notorious for kidnapping-for-ransom incidents, particularly by the Abu Sayyaf Group, a jihadist militant and pirate group.

Between late 2016 and mid-2022, ships were advised to avoid the area, with ReCAaP's Information Sharing Center, which tracks piracy in Asia, deeming the threat of abduction to be high.

No abduction incidents have been reported in the area since January 2020, and the threat level was downgraded to "low" in January 2025.

While attacks on cruise ships are rare, they are not unheard of. In 2009, Somali pirates attempted to board the MSC Melody near the Seychelles. Passengers threw tables and deck chairs overboard before pistol fire caused the pirates to retreat.

Pirates typically target oil tankers and container ships rather than cruise ships. Nonetheless, a spokesperson for Cunard said taking such precautions is standard procedure in certain areas.

"As part of standard maritime procedures, our Captains may make precautionary announcements when sailing through certain regions," the spokesperson told BI.

They added: "There was no specific threat to the ship or its guests, and our onboard experience remained uninterrupted."

• Canadians are turning to Canada-made products amid Trump's tariff threats and 51st state comments.
• The surge in demand has come with a rise in complaints about potential mislabeling scams.
• The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says complaints increased by 1000% between January and February.

President Donald Trump's tariff threats and repeated comments about Canada becoming the US's "51st state" have fueled a surge in popularity for Canadian-made products north of the border. But this has led to a rise in complaints of mislabeling and potential fraud.

According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), complaints about country-of-origin claims on food labels and advertisements spiked in February, including "Product of Canada" labels.

A "Product of Canada" label means the processing, labor, and at least 98% of a product's ingredients are Canadian, while a "Made in Canada" label applies to food products where the final "substantial transformation" takes place in Canada. If the ingredients aren't entirely Canadian, the label must include a qualifying statement.

Data provided to Business Insider by the CFIA shows a 1050% increase in complaints in February compared to January, with 23 complaints, five tied to "Product of Canada" claims. This was up from just two in January and December, and one in November.

Meanwhile, CFIA data for the first five days of March, the latest data available, shows four complaints filed.

The CFIA said reviews of the complaints are underway.

"The CFIA takes labeling issues seriously and wants to know about products that consumers think are labeled in a misleading manner," the agency said in a statement provided to BI.

The surge in Canadians looking to buy local goods is rooted in the growing trade war.

On February 1, Trump signed executive orders imposing a 25% tariff on most Canadian goods.

Trump's tariffs first took effect on March 4, prompting Canada to impose retaliatory measures. On March 6, Trump announced a temporary delay on tariffs for USMCA-compliant Canadian goods.

Dylan Lobo, founder of the directory site Made in CA, told BI that traffic to his website surged to record highs on February 1.

Google Trends data reflects a similar story, with searches for "Made in Canada" reaching all-time highs in February.

When US steel and aluminum tariffs came into force on March 12, Canada responded with another round of reciprocal tariffs.

Canadian businesses have reacted, with some grocery chains sidelining American products, small businesses boycotting US products, and Ontario and New Brunswick instructing provincially-owned alcohol retailers to remove US-made alcohol from their shelves.

"Now, more than ever, Canadians have been clear that they want to support Canadian businesses and buy Canadian products," a CFIA notice to the industry, published on March 14, said.

The notice continued: "The Government of Canada is working with provinces, territories, and industry associations to promote clear, transparent, and accurate product labeling."

• The US is seeking Denmark's help to solve its egg crisis.
• Egg prices in the US are at a record high due to a major outbreak of avian influenza.
• Relations are tense between the countries, following Trump's comments about Greenland.

The US and Denmark may be at odds over Greenland, but when it comes to solving its egg shortage, Washington is looking to Copenhagen for help.

Jørgen Nyberg Larsen, CEO of the Danish Egg Association, told Business Insider that his trade group received a message from a US Department of Agriculture regional attaché on February 28, inquiring about Denmark's willingness to export eggs.

In the email, forwarded to BI, the Danish Egg Association was asked a series of yes-or-no questions about Denmark's willingness to supply the US with table and breaker eggs.

Table eggs are sold in-shell, while breaker eggs are sold in liquid form.

The email noted "surging egg prices" in the US, with the agency inquiring about the estimated volume of eggs Denmark could export over six months, as well as the industry's familiarity with export regulations.

"I answered that we were positive to helping our American friends and then I asked some specific questions on the conditions," Larsen told BI.

Egg prices in the US hit a record high in February; between December 2024 and January 2025, egg prices saw their biggest spike in 10 years, driving up the cost of grocery shopping.

This was caused by a widespread outbreak of avian influenza, or H5N1 bird flu.

As of February 7, the USDA reported that 116.9 million "layer" hens — chickens bred for egg production — had been removed from the population.

Emily Metz, president of the American Egg Board, said in a statement this week that the outbreak was disrupting supply and causing price volatility.

The latest consumer price index, released Wednesday, shows that in February, a dozen Grade A eggs cost an average of nearly $5.90 in US cities, surpassing January's then-record high of $4.95.

The US appeal for egg imports comes at a time when relations between the US and Denmark are unusually tense.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly spoken about taking control of Greenland, a part of the Danish commonwealth that has had self-rule since 1979, and has even refused to rule out using military force. Denmark is a member of NATO.

Last month, Vice President JD Vance told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo that Denmark was not a "good ally." And during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte this week, Trump said he thought Greenland's annexation would happen and questioned Denmark's claim to the territory.

Those threats have not gone unnoticed. On Thursday, Denmark's foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, told local media that he did not see "any indication whatsoever that Greenlanders want to be Americans".

Meanwhile, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in an interview with Time magazine last month that she hopes "everybody respects our territorial integrity like anywhere else in the world."

As for the transatlantic egg inquiry, Larsen said he sent his positive responses to Washington, but has yet to receive a reply.

USDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Hundreds of Air India passengers went on an eight-hour flight to nowhere this week.
• The plane turned back to Mumbai after about four hours when the airline detected a security threat.
• It marks Air India's second flight to nowhere incident in less than a week.

Hundreds of Air India passengers went on an eight-hour flight to nowhere on Monday night after the airline detected a security threat.

Data from Flightradar24 shows that Monday's flight from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport Mumbai to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport made a U-turn over the Azerbaijan-Armenia border — a little over four hours into the journey.

The flight to nowhere lasted about eight hours and 20 minutes in total. A direct flight from Mumbai to New York usually takes just under 16 hours.

In a statement, Air India said the diversion was because a "potential security threat was detected" during the flight.

"After following the necessary protocols, the flight air-returned to Mumbai, in the interest of the safety and security of all on board," the statement said, adding that the Boeing 777-300 underwent mandatory security upon landing.

The plane landed back in Mumbai at 10:25 a.m. local time, per Flightradar24.

The airline told Live from a Lounge that 322 people, including 19 crew members, were on board. Air India said the flight was rescheduled to the following day and passengers were offered hotel accommodation, meals, and other assistance.

Air India did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

It was the second flight to nowhere for Air India in less than a week.

On March 7, an Air India flight returned to Chicago after a nine-hour journey when most of the plane's bathrooms stopped working. The airline's investigation found that bags, rags, and clothes had been flushed down the toilets, blocking the plumbing.

Flight diversions, particularly those that return to the departure airport, can be costly for airlines and annoying for passengers, but they are often necessary for safety reasons.

These decisions are usually made on a case-by-case basis, but some carriers, such as American Airlines, have their own automated tools to help dispatchers and other airline workers determine whether a U-turn is necessary.

• Egg prices continued to rise in February, surpassing the record-high prices in January.
• Avian influenza has been driving up the cost of the staple food.
• But wholesale prices are falling, suggesting good news could be around the corner.

Egg prices hit another record high in February, but there's a glimmer of hope — wholesale prices are now falling, and egg shortages are easing up.

This could be welcome news in the lead-up to Easter.

The latest consumer price index, released Wednesday, shows that in February, a dozen Grade A eggs cost an average of nearly $5.90 in US cities, surpassing January's then-record high of $4.95.

A year earlier, in February 2024, the average price was just $3 — almost half of the current cost, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI data.

Between December 2024 and January 2025, egg prices in the US saw their biggest spike in 10 years, driving up the cost of grocery shopping.

A widespread outbreak of avian influenza (H5N1 bird flu) is the main culprit. When an outbreak is detected, infected chickens and their entire flock must be culled.

As of February 7, the USDA reported that 116.9 million "layer" hens —bred for egg production — had been removed from the population.

A glimmer of hope

Emily Metz, president of the American Egg Board, said in a statement Wednesday that the avian influenza outbreak is disrupting egg supply.

However, she pointed to some "good news" — demand for eggs has eased, as it usually does before the Easter buying season, which has helped to bring down wholesale prices.

A USDA report published last week said that wholesale prices for graded loose eggs dropped "sharply" and that a respite in bird flu outbreaks had given egg producers a chance to catch up on supply shortages.

Even so, while this could eventually lead to lower prices at the store, this hasn't happened yet.

"Retail price levels have yet to adjust and remain off-putting to many," the USDA report said.

Metz also warned that as the Easter holiday grows nearer, demand for eggs may increase, causing a "second, temporary increase in prices."

It's also possible that eggs may just be more expensive from now on.

"It seems highly unlikely we'll see a $2 egg market anytime soon," Karyn Rispoli, a managing editor for eggs in the Americas at Expana, told Business Insider in January.

The rising cost led to Waffle House adding a 50-cent charge to each egg it sells, and some grocery stores limiting egg purchases.

And, in Pennsylvania last month, 100,000 eggs were stolen from the back of a distribution trailer.

• The 'Buy Canadian' movement is growing in the face of US-Canada tensions over tariffs.
• The owner of the online directory 'Made in CA' says traffic has surged in recent weeks.
• He says it's driven by patriotism and anger over Trump's economic moves and rhetoric.

Dylan Lobo, a digital media consultant who runs the website Made in CA, says he's seen an unprecedented surge in traffic to his directory of Canadian-made goods in recent weeks.

"There's a lot of patriotism right now in this country," Lobo told Business Insider. "There's a huge sense that Canadians want to support other Canadians."

Many in Canada are responding to the threats of US tariffs — as well as President Donald Trump's talks of Canada becoming the "51st state" — by increasingly seeking out domestically made goods.

Lobo said traffic to the directory, which was founded in 2018 during Trump's first term in office, has risen steadily since January, with sharp spikes whenever Trump criticizes Canada or when tariffs make headlines.

Trump floated tariffs on imports from Canada during his 2024 presidential campaign, but interest in Made in CA didn't spike until his inauguration approached. Lobo said that's when many Canadians started to realize that tariffs could become a reality.

"Between January 1 and January 20, traffic almost tripled daily, and on January 21, the day after the inauguration, it tripled again," he said.

Lobo added that the biggest surge came on February 1, when Trump signed executive orders imposing 25% tariffs on most Canadian goods. "This was our biggest traffic spike — we hit 100,000-plus readers in a single day."

Google Trends data shows that searches for "Made in Canada" in February reached their highest levels on record, with March following closely behind.

A sharp spike occurred the week of February 2, right after Trump signed his tariff executive orders.

Similarly, searches for "Buy Canadian" peaked that week, reaching their highest level in over five years, with February recording the most searches for the term in nearly a decade.

Tariffs, tariffs everywhere

When Trump's tariffs initially took effect on March 4, Canada responded with its own retaliatory moves on US goods. That same day, Made in CA saw another surge in traffic — Lobo said it quadrupled.

Then, on March 6, Trump announced a temporary delay on tariffs for USMCA-compliant goods from Canada. But a day later, he escalated his threats, saying he would impose reciprocal tariffs as high as 250% on Canadian dairy and lumber.

Meanwhile, on Monday, Ontario province slapped a 25% tax on electricity exports to three US states. Trump responded in a Truth Social post in which he threatened to impose an additional 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum coming into the US from Canada, bringing the tariff rate on those imports to 50%.

Trump said those tariffs will go into effect on March 12.

The 'Buy Canadian' movement is picking up

Canadian businesses have also been hitting back. Some small businesses have been boycotting US products. Last week, Ontario and New Brunswick instructed provincially owned alcohol retailers to remove US-made alcohol from store shelves.

"Buy Canadian instead" signs are now on display in some liquor stores.

"The 'Buy Canadian' movement has grown quickly," Lobo said, adding, "What's been most meaningful is that we've retained a larger, more engaged audience — thousands of Canadians who are committed to supporting Canadian-made products."

And it isn't just site visits that have skyrocketed — submissions have flooded in, too, he said.

Canadians can submit products to the online directory in two ways: by recommending Canadian-made items they find in stores or by submitting their own businesses for review.

"We received thousands of submissions, over 4,000 in just a few days, and hundreds of emails from Canadians eager to support local businesses," Lobo told BI, adding that he's still working through the backlog, personally reviewing, editing, and publishing each listing.

Even so, he said he receives emails every day from panicked Canadian consumers and business owners, asking what they can do.

"I say the easiest thing to do is just buy a Canadian product," he told BI. "You might spend a little bit more, but at least you're helping a small business with Canadian workers."

• Canada's ruling Liberal Party elected Mark Carney to replace Justin Trudeau on Sunday.
• The Harvard graduate and former Goldman Sachs banker previously headed two central banks.
• Carney is used to attacks, having led the Bank of England during the height of Brexit negotiations.

Mark Carney, a former Goldman Sachs banker and the former governor of Canada's and England's central banks, is set to become Canada's prime minister, just as the country faces a fresh wave of uncertainty over tariffs.

He was elected leader of Canada's ruling Liberal Party on Sunday. He replaces Justin Trudeau, who said he would step down as party leader in January.

In the war of words over tariffs, US President Donald Trump called Trudeau "Governor Trudeau." Shortly before he took office in January, Trump said he'd used "economic force" to annex Canada.

While Carney has never held political office before, he is no stranger to political attacks and trash talk. He was governor of the Bank of England while the UK negotiated Brexit, amid a tense national atmosphere.

In 2018, Carney was criticized by pro-Brexit politicians after he warned that leaving the EU without a deal with the bloc could decimate the British economy. One member of parliament called Carney a "second-tier Canadian politician who failed to get on in Canadian politics and then got a job in the UK."

Carney, 59, is expected to be sworn in as prime minister in the coming days. He will then have to lead his party into a federal election, which must happen by October.

In the meantime, the country will have to navigate Trump's 25% tariffs, which he imposed on March 4 but delayed until April 2.

The tariff turnaround, combined with Trump's comments, has ignited a defensive fervor in Canada.

Carney referred to Canada's relationship with the US during his victory speech on Sunday.

"I know that these are dark days. Dark days brought on by a country we can no longer trust," he said.

Carney's financial sector background

Carney has a deep history in the financial sector.

He was born in Fort Smith, in the Northwest Territories, and graduated from Harvard, where he played ice hockey. He spent 13 years at Goldman Sachs, working at the investment bank's offices in London, Tokyo, New York, and Toronto.

Carney led two central banks at pivotal moments.

After leaving Goldman Sachs in 2003, Carney served as deputy governor of the Bank of Canada. He was made governor in 2008, at the start of the global financial crisis.

He was then the first non-British governor of the Bank of England from 2013 through 2020, where he guided the bank's response to Brexit.

Since leaving the Bank of England, Carney has held a mix of commercial and international roles. He was appointed vice chair of Brookfield Asset Management in 2020 and was made chair after the division was spun out as a new company in 2022.

In 2021, Carney became a board member of Stripe, a digital payments company. He was named as the chair of Bloomberg's board in 2023.

That's in addition to his work with international organizations. In 2019, before he left the Bank of England, Carney was appointed UN special envoy on climate action and finance. In 2021, Carney launched the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, a global climate-finance coalition.

In January, Carney said while announcing his leadership bid for the Liberal Party that he had resigned from all his commercial and international roles.

Carney's response to Trump's tariffs

In his victory speech Sunday, Carney didn't hold back on Trump's tariff threats.

At times, he spoke as though he was facing off against the US president in the next election rather than his expected opponent, Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada's Conservative Party.

Carney threatened to impose dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs that would have "maximum impact in the United States."

"My government will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect, and until they can join us in making credible and reliable commitments to free and fair trade," Carney said.

He also didn't hold back on Trump during his speech.

"Trump, as we know, has put, as the prime minister just said, unjustified tariffs on what we build, on what we sell, on how we make a living," Carney said. "He's attacking Canadian families, workers, and businesses, and we cannot let him succeed, and we won't."

• Alice Hayes and Billy O'Connor run Great Blasket Island, an uninhabited island off the Irish coast.
• Every year, they search for caretakers to move to the island during the tourist season.
• They said many applicants apply, often looking for a career break.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Billy O'Connor and Alice Hayes, who run Great Blasket Island, an uninhabited island off the western coast of Ireland. This year, they selected a newlywed couple to serve as island caretakers for six months, which comes with a wage, food, and accommodation.

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Alice: Seven years ago, our longtime caretaker left to become a teacher. We knew we would be left with nobody to take care of the holiday cottages and café on Great Blasket Island.

The tourist season was fast approaching. We were like, 'We have nobody to cover the island. We need to get a caretaker. Who is going to be mad enough to come down and spend six months here?'

We decided to post something on Facebook and see if there was any interest in taking on the role.

We were very naive. Once the post went out, it instantly took off.

It was far more popular than we could have ever expected. We had about 80,000 applications.

Overwhelming interest

We spent a long time going through all the application forms — it became our bedtime reading.

In the years since, we've continued to open up applications, but owing to the large number of submissions, we have decided to cap the number we can receive online at 300.

We get a lot of international applicants from all over the world and from all walks of life — Americans, Canadians, retired couples.

They're all enthusiastic about it.

The two caretakers we picked this year were finalists in last year's application round — James is from Ireland and Camille is from Minnesota.

Billy: For a lot of people who applied in the first couple of years, it was so romanticized. People thought they would go to this paradise island and lie on a hammock all summer.

That was really the hardest bit: How do you not put people off but still let them know it's actually a lot of work and it can be fairly miserable sometimes?

Alice: When people apply, we throw a bit of realism in there. We let them know that there's no electricity or hot water in the guest cottages. There's also the rain.

You're ultimately out on an island, and there are no conveniences. You can't just go to the shop or the pub. More often than not, applicants don't mind that.

On the flip side, there's a lot the island has to offer — nature, solitude, and peace. Last year, the caretakers got a spectacular view of the aurora borealis.

Billy: You've all the seals on the island, with basking sharks on the front of the island. In September, the final month, you also get dolphins and whales.

You've got seal pups, as well. A few caretakers have said that watching the pups being born are some of the best memories of their lives.

Alice: You have the most amazing sunrises and sunsets. We don't try to romanticize it, but when these things happen, there's no denying that it's just incredible.

Usually, people apply because they're looking for a career break or something like that.

You're just more present on the island, without the distractions of the mainland and your phone.

With cities, the hustle and bustle of life, and everything being so busy, going to a place where there's just nothing is so appealing.

• A coalition of 20 attorneys general is suing the Trump administration over mass layoffs.
• The lawsuit claims that federal agencies did not provide the required notice for the layoffs.
• It said that notices allow employees to budget for lost income and for states to mobilize resources.

A coalition made up of 20 attorneys general from across the US is suing the Trump administration over the firing of thousands of probationary federal workers.

On Thursday, the attorneys general for 19 states and Washington, D.C., filed the lawsuit in a federal court in Maryland, arguing that President Donald Trump's administration violated legal requirements governing the layoff of federal workers.

The lawsuit, which names multiple federal agencies and their secretaries as defendants, claims that federal agencies failed to provide the legally required notice before carrying out the terminations.

It specifically accused the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of unlawfully directing federal agencies to conduct mass terminations of probationary employees "suddenly and without any advance notice."

Probationary employees are typically workers who have served in the role for less than two years.

Under federal law, agencies must generally give employees 60 days' written notice of a "Reduction-in-Force" before they are released.

Additionally, when 50 or more employees within an agency receive these notices, federal laws require the agency to notify state governments.

The lawsuit said that these notices serve critical purposes: they give employees time to find new jobs and budget for the loss of income, and they allow states to better mobilize resources, including job placement services, training opportunities, and connections to social services.

"Over the past month, the new Administration has run roughshod over the RIF requirements," the lawsuit said.

As a result, it said that employees and their families are "struggling to make ends meet," while plaintiff states have been forced to "scramble and expend additional resources to identify even which agencies have conducted layoffs and which affected employees require support."

The attorneys general involved represent the states of Maryland, Minnesota, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, as well as Washington, D.C.

"The Trump administration's illegal mass firings of federal workers are a slap in the face to those who have spent their careers serving our country," New York AG Letitia James said in a statement.

The attorneys general are seeking a court order to stop further mass layoffs without the required notice period, and the reinstatement of workers laid off since January 20, 2025.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Thousands of probationary employees have been fired amid the push by the White House and the Department of Government Efficiency to shrink the federal workforce.

Last week, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that the OPM must withdraw memos calling for other agencies to terminate probationary employees, saying the OPM had exceeded its legal authority.

Earlier this week, the OPM quietly revised a memo about firing probationary employees, clarifying that individual agencies, not the OPM, are responsible for terminating federal workers.

• A new survey suggests that Dubai's population growth is having a negative impact on expat salaries.
• As more expats compete for jobs, salaries are set to remain flat in 2025, Cooper Fitch found.
• But the recruitment agency said housing costs are up, which could shrink expats' disposable incomes.

As expats continue to relocate to Dubai, the cost of living is rising but salaries are expected to stagnate, according to a new survey by Dubai-based recruitment agency Cooper Fitch.

Cooper Fitch projects that salaries across the United Arab Emirates will flatline in 2025, with an average increase of 0%, despite expected GDP growth.

Its UAE Salary Guide 2025, based on a survey of business leaders from over 1,000 organizations, also notes that some market analysts warn the country's expanding expat population could eventually drive average salaries down.

Dubai is an expat hot spot

Foreigners have long been drawn to Dubai by tax-free incomes, a luxury lifestyle, and a warm climate.

Dubai's population has surged to about 3.85 million, with expats accounting for roughly 87%, according to government data.

This marks a population increase of about 475,000 people from March 2020.

The positive economic indicators, including inflows of foreign direct investment and rising GDP, may entice even more people to relocate to Dubai in the coming years.

However, Cooper Fitch said that when it comes to salary increases, the significant population growth is "balancing the economic gains."

Fiona Robson, the head of the Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University Dubai, told BI that the influx of expats is expanding the talent pool for job vacancies.

As such, she said that salary stagnation "could be due to less of a need to offer premium salaries when there is already a good set of candidates to select from."

Salaries flatline, while living costs soar

Dubai remains a magnet for high-income earners, said Washika Haak-Saheem, the dean of Dubai Business School at the University of Dubai, in an email to BI.

However, those who are less well-off may be increasingly feeling the pinch.

Haak-Saheem said that for middle-income professionals "who are important to Dubai's dynamic economic growth, ensuring sustained salary growth remains an area of focus."

Dubai is now the costliest city in the Middle East for expats, and 15th globally, according to Mercer's Cost of Living 2024 ranking.

Housing is a major factor.

In the 12 months leading up to December 2024, rents rose by an average of 16%, said CBRE's head of MENA research, Matthew Green, in an email to BI.

"This has been driven by a rapidly rising population, with new supply failing to keep pace with demand," he said. And rents are forecast to rise even further in the coming quarters, Green added.

"The disparity between escalating living costs and stagnant salaries poses financial challenges for many expatriates," Rizwan Tahir, professor of global management at the Rochester Institute of Technology Dubai, told BI.

The cost of a growing population

Flatlining salaries and rising rents may be the price of Dubai's expanding expat community. Even so, the city plans to keep growing.

According to its urban development roadmap, Dubai aims to increase its population by an additional 5.8 million by 2040.

Going forward, available salaries and rents could lead to a reduction in disposable income for some, but Trefor Murphy, CEO of Cooper Fitch, said that context is key when it comes to salaries in the UAE.

"They're already at that very high level and it's tax-free," he said, adding: "People get paid really well."

Do you have a story to share about life as an expat in the UAE? Contact this reporter at [email protected].